Conrad Tao, a piano prodigy grown up, dazzles in Berkeley

On Thursday, Dec. 7, the good folks at Lincoln Center tagged the 23-year-old piano virtuoso Conrad Tao as one of a group of upcoming musical artists worthy of recognition and support. That night, Tao came to UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall and showed everyone why.

Tao was on the program with the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra and guest conductor Gemma New not once but twice — playing Rachmaninoff’s Paganini Variations on the first half and returning after intermission for Liszt’s equally extravagant showpiece “Totentanz.” Both performances confirmed everything we’ve been told about Tao’s keyboard brilliance.

It’s actually a comparatively old story. Tao has been a visible presence on the musical scene — as both a pianist and a composer — since he was a 10-year-old prodigy. A solo recital he gave in Berkeley at 14, under the auspices of Cal Performances, made it pretty clear that his was a massive and multidimensional talent.

And since then, he has only expanded on that gift, pursuing a wide range of old and new music. Thursday’s concert didn’t have too much to say about Tao’s versatility — aside from the encore, it traded in verity for thematic consistency — but it did demonstrate the depth of virtuosity and interpretive resourcefulness he brings to the table.

Naturally, it’s the virtuosity you notice first. Tao’s ability to get around a keyboard — with either nimble agility or pounding intensity as required — is something to marvel over. And both pieces, written by artists steeped in the 19th century tradition of the composer-pianist, are designed to show off those skills.

But Tao was never content simply to wow his listeners with rapid and impeccably executed scales and arpeggios, or to dazzle them into submission with ferocious chordal passages. Throughout both performances, he modulated his showmanship with graceful phrasing and elegant rhetoric.

The crystalline textures of the early variations in the Rachmaninoff, for example — an evocation of Paganini’s original piece that Rachmaninoff gradually fills in — found an echo in Tao’s pointed sonorities, blossoming into the luxurious lyricism of the famous 18th variation.

And Liszt’s ghoulish death-haunted romp, built around the tolling strains of the “Dies Irae” that also make an appearance in the Rachmaninoff, found Tao balancing the percussive energy of the main episodes with solo passages of suavity and almost eerie intimacy. The latter qualities came through again, in more concentrated form, in a gorgeous encore of Scarlatti’s A-Major Sonata, K. 208.

New, a New Zealander with posts in Ontario and St. Louis, made a solid and responsive partner. In an impressive local debut, she demonstrated a crisp and vivid podium technique complemented by a canny mastery of orchestral balance.

Those gifts were brought into play in the West Coast premieres of two recent works, beginning with “Chasing Light,” a brief and perhaps overly modest curtain-raiser by Rene Orth. The piece is described by the composer as an evocation of the experience of struggling to meet a deadline and finally succeeding — a slice of human experience that is presumably relatable for many if not most of her listeners.

The piece takes the form of rapidly whirling instrumental figures set against the ominous tread of a bass drum, followed finally by a short burst of relief. The whole thing feels precisely on point, but a bit slim — there are more ideas here than a four-minute bagatelle can quite accommodate.

Anna Clyne’s “Abstractions,” on the other hand, made a practice of presenting elemental ideas — repeated melodic patterns, simple tonal harmonies, placid rhythms — without much elaboration. It’s a suite of five pieces inspired by works of visual art (which were helpfully provided in a program insert); of the five, only the central “Seascape,” with intricate woodwind filigree perched atop static harmonies, left much of an impression.

Joshua Kosman has covered classical music for the San Francisco Chronicle since 1988, reviewing and reporting on the wealth of orchestral, operatic, chamber and contemporary music throughout the Bay Area.

In his spare time, he is the co-constructor of a weekly cryptic crossword puzzle in The Nation magazine, and has repeatedly placed among the top 20 contestants at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament.